Göteborg gang in HH

Last weekend my dear friends from GBG visited us in HH. Finally!!! ;-)
The reason was good - Marcus Berg - a football player from IFK GBG plays now for HSV. So with some help of work colleagues I got the tickets and we all went to the game on Saturday. The game sucked, especially when compared with another game Barca-Valencia on TV the same night.
Anyway, Petra, Magnus, Fredrik and Tommy came on Sat before noon. After some coffee we went downtown and strawled around. Had some lunch, did a bit of window shopping; then home, eat burritos and go to the game. Together with some other 70.000 people!






After the game we went together with Guillem and Dennis to see that Barca game in the usual bar.
When we got home, we realized that we needed to pump the matraces. The big one we fixed in the cellar. It was fun to get it in the elevator together with Fredrik, Alex and me.



The problem was that this matrace was loosing air so Magnus had to pump in at 4 AM!!! I think he woke up half of the building ;-)

Sunday - I woke up at 9, while the others at 10.30!!! We had late breakfast and then again went to the city. We went to Landungsbrucke and then walked along Elbe. The day was so beautiful!!!





We had some coffee at the "Coffee roasting café", then walked to St. Nicolas church remainings, had lunch at Gröninger with their good beer, and we finished with a walk at Alster. Then got some local döner for dinner at home.

The weekend passed fast but it was so much fun! Tack att ni kom!!

Today Alex changed the tryes in my car so I'm ready for winter (NOT!!!). Hope this week will pass fast. On Sunday Miguel is coming (our crazy Mexican friend from our company) so looking forward that!

China - part 2

We stayed only 1 night in Guilin (the city is not that spectacular), went to one park/garden and then left to a much nicer Yangshou (where everybody else went).





The nature around Yangshou is beautiful - the funny looking hills covered with trees, rivers and rce fields. We took a "bamboo" raft trip on Li River, rented bikes and biked to Moon Hill and chilled out on the roof of our hostel.













From Yangshou and Guilin we went up North again - to Xi'An and Terracota Warriors. From +34 degrees to rain and cold :(
But the Warriors are impressive. We also stayed in a traditional looking hostel.













When we arrived back to XiAn we had a plan of visiting the muslim quarter but there was no way we could get hold on any taxi or bus or whatever means of transportation! We walked for over 1 hour in the rain and at the end took this "riksha" which was a rip of but still took us faster to a dumpling restaurant. Unfortunately we only had time to get our stuff from the hostel and go to the airport to catch the flight back to Beijing.



Back to Beijing felt nice. For Filip it sort of felt like coming back home :)
In the morning we went to the Forbidden City, then to some markets to get some presents, glasses, Chucks (which I never got due to "high" prices), etc.





That was my last day in Beijing. The day after I took off. Due to the fact that I got some awful cold the trip back home wasn't so nice. The pressure in my ears was killing me :( But thanks God I didn't catch anything what could put me in the quarantine in China. The trip was great and full of surprises. Still many places to be seen. Some other time. Just hope that people will start taking care of the external environment - otherwise there is not much to be seen over there...

China - part 1

I don't know how I can manage to update this blog after two weeks in China. The good thing is that I kept a paper version of blog - the old school diary. But it is too much to write here so I'm just gonna write a little and place only some pictures (out of 700 or 800 which I have...). To see more pics - check out on Facebook.

Two weeks passed fast but there was so much impressions and experiences. Amazing country! Amazing culture and less amazing land of copies at present. Friendly people. Good food. Pollution. Trees are really not green. A combination of 100 different scents/smells on the streets. Bikes and super expensive cars on the streets. 1,5 billion people on holidays at the same time. I hate crowds!!!!

Trip started at Filip's place in Beijing. All the musts have been done: Lama Temple, Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen (almost totally closed due to the 60th's year celebration of the Republic), the Great Wall, markets, Forbidden City etc. I'm a bit disappointed cause I didn't eat Beijing duck - oh well...
After a few days in Beijing, I had an "appetizer" of Chinese turists who had holidays. Plus the celebrations of 60 years of the Republic didn't make the things easier. Crowds all over, closed areas etc.
I had a few days with Filip's friend Mathias who was also at Filip's place. We went to Lama Temple, Temple of Heaven, visited some hutongs - old, genuine districts with small streets, the Great Wall.
















Then we took a night train to Shanghai (on soft chairs, 10 hrs long trip). Check out the crowd at Beijing train station (Chinese people started their national holidays):



We stayed at a very nice hostel - Blue Mountain Hostel. The first day wasn't so nice due to the weather. It was pouring rain so much that our new umbrellas which we got there didn't resist. We met Ola and Kuba (Filip's friends from Gdynia) there. Shanghi is cool but Lonely Planet tips couldn't be seen due to the fact that Shanghai is Expo 2010 host and right now there is a lot of construction places all over and no access for people. Great...



A very nice and cozy district - within the French Quarter:










From Shanghai Filip and I went to Guilin in the South.
Took Maglev (magnetic train with speed of 400 km/hr) to the airport: